Always Searching
by Your Almighty Sock Lord
Summary: Artemis must help an orphan girl, Stephanie, find her lost friends. Will he make a friend as well?
1. Lost and Found

**Disclaimer: I own no one beside Stephanie, Nathaniel and their kitty kit Binx. Oh, and I own you too, but I'd rather not discuss that at the moment.**

It was dreadfully cold as wind blew the pearly white snowflakes around Nathaniel and Stephanie on that awful winter's night. The children had both been trekking around Ireland; they had no idea where exactly they were, looking for a place to call home after they had escaped the old orphanage. Stephanie had brought her cat, Binx, along with her.

"Nat, this is getting ridiculous," Stephanie told her friend through chattering teeth. "It's blistering cold outside and I need my jacket _desperately_. I think Binx is getting frostbitten, too." She hugged the shivering black cat closer.

"Well, where is your jacket?" Nathaniel looked back at her with an annoyed look on his face.

"You told me to leave it at the orphanage! You said they would identify me easily with it on!" Stephanie was getting angry.

"Hey, you shouldn't have worn it all the dang time, Stephanie. No one would recognize you if you hadn't."

"It was the only thing I had!" At this moment Binx meowed. "Besides Binx, of course. Other than that I had nothing!"

"Oh, so I don't exist anymore? I don't count?" Nathanial looked hurt and furious at the same time. His icy grey eyes helped this effect come to be.

Stephanie stopped and just looked at her angry friend. She looked at Nathaniel as if to say 'sorry'. However, no matter how much she wanted to say it out loud, Stephanie couldn't do it without crying. She never liked crying. Without the ability to say anything, she just looked at the snowy ground and walked on.

Hours went by and both the children were silent as the grave. They had nothing to say anyway. Who would at a time like this? It was freezing outside and the wind would knock the air out of their lungs if they tried to speak any further.

After an estimated three hours of walking around, frozen as an ice lolly, Stephanie stopped abruptly and doubled over, breathing very heavily. Her breath came out in short, harsh gasps. "Nate…" she said with much difficulty. "I can't keep…doing this…"

Nathaniel quit walking and turned to his hurting friend. "Why, what's wrong?"

"I don't know." Stephanie shook her head. "My chest just…hurts when I…breathe." Binx meowed softly and rubbed his head against Stephanie's chin.

"You sound awful, too." Nathaniel became worried quickly. "Maybe we should rest somewhere…." He looked around for anywhere to hide themselves for a while. Everything was covered in snow, as if to hide from the freezing children. Suddenly an enormous gust of wind came through and blew the snow away from a nearby bush. "Ooh, what luck! Come on, Stephanie, we'll rest there." Stephanie just nodded.

Nathaniel grabbed his friend's hand gently and guided her to the bush. He felt that Stephanie didn't need to make a big effort to walk, if she was hurting so badly. Binx jumped from his owner's arms and followed. Stephanie started having a small coughing fit as they walked.

To Stephanie it seemed to take forever for her to reach the bush, which was discovered to be covered in frozen strawberries. When she sat down behind it, or in front of it, she couldn't tell, she grabbed one and started thawing it off with her hands.

"Great! We found food!" Nathaniel exclaimed. He pulled several strawberries off of the bush and started to thaw them of, just as his friend was doing. Both children kept this behavior up until they could no longer find any ripe strawberries. They would've given some to Binx, but he was strictly a carnivore.

Stephanie sat against the strawberry bush and sighed. "I'm still cold. And I think I might be sick." She coughed.

"As am I. And yes, you most likely do have a cold, maybe even worse. But it'll pass with time."

"How much time?"

"We never know, Steph," Nathaniel said, sighing heavily. His rosy cheeks inflated very slightly when he did so. Everything about him was rosy. His cheeks, his hair, even his personality. He was so delightful most of the time and very bouncy when excited. Nathaniel was just one of those kids.

Nathaniel yawned. "I'm tired. I have no clue how long I'll be able to sleep in this blistering cold, but it's worth a try. What about you, Steph?" He waited for an answer, but none came. "Steph?"

Stephanie had already fallen into a deep slumber and was breathing softly through her mouth.

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Artemis Fowl II was staring at the snow falling outside of his bedroom window. He didn't feel the need to be on the computer, or do anything else for that matter.

The just-turned-fourteen-year-old boy genius heaved a heavy sigh. He never thought he would be this bored in his life. I mean, he could rob a high security art museum of its most valuable masterpiece if he wanted to. The thing was, _he just didn't want to._ Something he did feel like doing, however, was gently banging his forehead against the window and whine in an obnoxious, high-pitched voice. So he did.

Heh heh.

Butler entered Artemis' room to check on his principle. "Erm, Artemis?"

Artemis stopped his childish behavior and turned to Butler sluggishly. "Yes…?"

"Are you feeling alright?"

"Other than the slight headache in my forehead that I have just required, yes, I'm just fine."

Butler wasn't convinced. It wasn't like the boy to be so…_bored._ "Are you sure you're feeling okay?"

"Yes, Butler, yes, I am just fine. I'm just very bored, that's all." Artemis turned his bored self back to the frosty bedroom window. He stared at the white snow that lay across the manor grounds. The snow was not the only thing in the front yard of Fowl Manor, however. A silhouette of a person walked unsteadily through the pearly white snow, almost blown over by the furious winds. It looked as if it was crying for help, or calling out for a certain someone. The figure staggered for a few more seconds, then fell to its knees in what looked like exhaustion.

Artemis turned to his bodyguard, quickly this time. "Butler! Someone is on the grounds. Bring this mystery person to me at once. I wish to know what he, or she, is doing…" Artemis steepled his fingers in the familiar way he did.

Butler nodded. "Yessir." The large manservant charged out of Artemis' room, rushed down the dimly lit hallway, stomped down the stairs leading to the foyer and reached the front door in two long strides. He opened the door and spotted the intruder at once. The intruder raised its head, looked at Butler, and let out a high-pitched scream.

**A/N: Yes, I know, very bad ending to the chapter. I just wanted to update this as soon as possible. Excitement and junk:D**


	2. A Helping Hand

**Well, chapter two of my not-so-wonderful story. It has come for all of you to enjoy. Or flame. Whichever one you prefer. I do not own Eoin's characters, I own my own. So bug off. **

Stephanie opened her eyes. She had fallen asleep against the strawberry bush she and Nathaniel had eaten from. For how long, she didn't know, but her slumber probably wasn't too lengthy. Everything looked exactly the way it did before she slept.

Except for her friends. They weren't there.

The girl quickly realized this and stood up. She looked around wildly for any signs of human life. Nothing. Nathaniel was _missing._

"Ah, dammit!" Stephanie screamed in frustration. This outburst caused her to have a short coughing fit. After that was over, she decided to go look for Nathaniel and Binx. She trekked through the snow, calling for her friends. She called and called, but all that replied were her melancholy echoes. _Binx...! Nathaniel…!_ Tears sprung up in Stephanie's eyes; her efforts were proving useless.

After much yelling and walking through death snow (A/N: The cold. It bites. Rawr.), Stephanie found herself in the front yard of what looked like a manor. Some on its windows spilled light onto the white ground. A boy was sitting in front of one, talking to someone else.

_Could it be Nathaniel? _Stephanie thought. Despite this possibility, she shook her head. _No. Nate would've woken me up and taken me here if that was him…maybe I should ask to stay here for an hour or so. _Then a sad look appeared on her face. _Nah, I can't leave Nathaniel and Binx in the cold. I'll keep searching…_

Stephanie was about to call Nathaniel's name again, but an enormous gust of icy wind came and hit her like a tidal wave. She suddenly got dizzy and her head started _throbbing_. The poor lass grabbed her head and dropped to her knees in exhaustion and pain. _I can't go on…_she thought._ I just can't…_

Without any warning a sudden light spilled upon her, followed by a really big shadow. Someone had opened the front door to the manor. In instinct, Stephanie looked up, although she wished she hadn't. In the doorway was a gargantuan man, bigger than any she had ever seen. So she started to scream really loudly. Nice.

Before Stephanie went hoarse and eventually lost her voice the man held up his huge hands and said over her screaming, "Whoa, whoa, stop yelling! You'll wake up all of Dublin!" Stephanie shut her yap and nodded. "Okay. My employer saw you out here and wanted to speak to you. Not that you have a choice, but is that okay with you?"

Stephanie thought for a moment. "…do you have any cough medicine?"

"Why?" Stephanie coughed in response. "Ah. Yeah, we have some. Come on now, get up and into the manor." The man stood aside and gestured Stephanie into the manor. She got to her feet and, while going through the doorway, stared at the Iron Giant.

"You packing?"

"No."

"You're sure?"  
"Yes!" The man gently pushed Stephanie into the manor foyer. "Giddiup. Artemis wishes to interrogate you."

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While he waited for Butler toreturn with the 'guest', Artemis had a staring contest with the wall. Surprisingly the wall was actually losing. It seemed to lose its luster, if a wall could have any.

Artemis really wasn't thinking about the status of his inanimate opponent. His mind was set on the strange visitor. What do they want? What were they doing? Are they planning something or spying? Artemis intended to find out.

Someone knocked on the door. A voice came from behind. "Artemis? It's Butler. I-"

"Your name is Butler?" The other voice coming from the door belonged to a young girl.

"I didn't tell you?"

"No, you didn't."

"Oh. Well, now you know."

"Because knowledge is power!"

Butler chuckled. "Anyway, I have the visitor."

Artemis waved them in even though they couldn't see the gesture. "Come in, then."

Butler allowed the girl in first. She had blonde hair with natural highlights and was about two inches shorter then Artemis himself (Who was about five foot four). She had pale skin with the exception of her cheeks. She had eczema on her cheeks, but it looked as if it was healing. Still, they were a tad red. Her eyes were blue-ish grey-ish green-ish and very stormy. She was thirteen years old and, all in all, looked mildly pretty. It was obvious she didn't wear make-up.

"Salutations," Artemis greeted. "I am Artemis Fowl II. Your name, may I ask?"

"Stephanie." American accent. Interesting.

"Hm, yes. Stephanie, may I ask you a question?"

Stephanie shrugged. "It's not like you gave me a choice, but shoot."

"You were recently in my front yard showing odd behavior. What is your business here?"

Stephanie suddenly got a melancholy look on her face. She sighed. May I sit down? This may take some time." Artemis nodded. Stephanie pulled his computer chair from its place and sat. "Okay. I have a very close friend named Nathaniel. I met him at the orphanage I was dropped off at when I was six. Just recently we decided to run away. The orphanage was _killing_ us. Being an animal lover, I brought my cat along, Binx. I acquired him when I was eight, but I'm getting off subject.

"Anyway we ran away from the orphanage and had to pick the lousiest time of the year to do it. We got lost in the blizzard for hours. Sooner or later I caught a cold, or flu, or something." She paused and coughed. "We had to somewhere to rest.

"Nate found a strawberry bush nearby, so we stopped there. We ate frozen strawberries for awhile, and then I felt drowsy. Naturally, I fell asleep. For how long, I don't know, but when I did wake up…" Stephanie stopped. She couldn't go on.

"You friend, your cat, they were both gone, weren't they?" Artemis concluded. Stephanie nodded sadly.

Butler was standing behind Stephanie and had been listening contently. He had an idea. "Artemis, may I talk to you in the hallway?"

"Of course, old friend." He stood up. "If you'll excuse me for a moment, Stephanie."

Stephanie nodded. "Go ahead, I'll wait." She looked at the ceiling and started to think about things.

Artemis walked into the hallway with Butler and shut the door. "What do you need to talk about?"  
"Well," started Butler, "you know how Stephanie's an orphan, as is her friend?

"Yes…"

"And her friend is lost and she has no where to go?"

"What are you getting…" Artemis pinched the bridge of his nose. "No, Butler. No. I cannot have some strange girl living here. And we are _not _helping her. Do you realize how long that would take to find this Nathaniel fellow?"

"Oh come on, Artemis! It would be doing something nice for once. Besides, you might even make a new friend."

"No."

"Artemis. How would you like it if you were lost and sick and your best friend disappeared and no one would help you?"

"…."

"Well?"

Artemis sighed. "I hate it when you do that. Fine. We'll help Stephanie. Once we find Nathaniel she's gone." He reentered his bedroom to find Stephanie singing softly to herself. She was very good, actually.

Stephanie stopped and turned around. "'Lo, fellows."

Artemis bent down beside her. "Butler and I had a conversation, and we decided that we are going to help you find Nathaniel and your cat."

"Really?"

"Most certainly."

For once in many, many hours, Stephanie smiled her widest at Artemis.


End file.
